If its accurate and true (well it is that bit) stick it on the wall in the sales office and use it as a mantra. Treat existing customers well. So many companies seems to forget that.

Andrew Nimick Point Concept twitter.com/andrewnim

Innovation has been a hot topic of late; mid-September I attended the NZCS 50 Years of Innovation conference.
It was great as we got to hear from some of the most innovative Kiwi’s in the ITC sector.

Then, a few days ago Brett Roberts of Business IQ posted an article on unlimited.co.nz prior to heading for Melbourne to talk about the subject.
Brett used to be responsible for innovation at Microsoft New Zealand; and by the way, Microsoft is still a pretty innovative company, just take a look at their new home server.

I commented that innovation needs passion and innovative organisations need passionate leaders. There is a lot of both in the Kiwi technology sector, which was clear from the keynotes at #NZCS50.

So I was really interested when Alexander Osterwalden posted an interview on businessmodelalchemist.com about innovation in which he made many comments about passion.

The IT sector is one where lowering costs can ala little passion to really achieve great things. The development times for an idea to achieve some recognition have been reduced. The sizes of development teams needed to create applications is smaller. Building for the web or mobile means it’s easier to create and then refine, it is easier to remain innovative with your core product for longer. There are no longer huge lead-up periods where an organisation has to pass the idea around the table.

We now have the situation where a single developer using cloud resources can develop something which once would have taken 10 or 20 people and 1000s of dollars.

In such an environment, innovation can become almost throw away. We should just do it and see; if it does not work, well, think of something else and start again.

In fact, innovation has to be almost throw away as it has to happen in increments more often than eureka moments. Look at Eddison and the light bulb.

Being willing to fail is important for the process on innovating and it seems to be something we do not encourage or teach to young students. So I was interested to find a post on just that subject, just before I finished this post. On the site connectedprincipals.com is a piece on author Steven Johnson’s new book. ‘Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History Of Innovation’.

And this comes back to a discussion at #NZCS50, how do we foster innovation? How do we engage young people to be the next innovators in IT?
It was generally agreed we needed to engage with schools and universities, but also that in doing so we needed to step away from teaching that IT was how to use a word processor and teaching how to create results and create tools.

I have no doubt that in order to teach innovation, we, the teachers must first become innovative.

Brett

http://unlimited.co.nz/unlimited.nsf/technology/innovation-coming-soon-to-a-company-near-you

 

Business Model Alchemist

http://www.businessmodelalchemist.com/2010/09/interview-with-innovationmanagement.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+BusinessModelDesignBlog+(Business+Model+Design+Blog)

 

Connected Principals

http://www.connectedprincipals.com/archives/1075

 

Steve Johnson

http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2010/06/where-good-ideas-come-from.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My recent post on sunlive, referes to @brettroberts, @stevenbjohnson. Innovation requires some failure.

Innovation in Schooling: Taking Inspiration from Where Good Ideas Come From

Posted by Jonathan Martin on 10/03/10 • Categorized as Best Educational Practices,Professional Development

Like many  participants here at CP, I find myself fascinated by innovation in our schools, in two ways: how can our schools be more innovative in the way they facilitate learning, and, even more importantly, how can our schools facilitate more innovation in the life-long mindset, habits, and actions of our students?

These topics are fascinating for me not just because of their importance (schooling must improve, and our world desperately needs our students to become life-long innovators for its vexing problems!) but also because of their complexity: I know I am embarked what will have to be a life-long learning project to grow in my understanding and leadership in these issues.

Today I want to try to take a few lessons from the forthcoming (Oct. 5) book by a favorite author, Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation.  (I am quoting from the advance reviewer’s proof.)

One very fun thing about the book for CP fans is its enthusiastic embrace of Twitter as a locus for innovation:  Twitter is a “thriving platform [which] invites variation because it is an open platform where resources are shared as much as [or much more than!] they are protected.”  Johnson himself is at @stevenbjohnson.

How can we promote greater innovation in our schools and in our student learning?

Explore the adjacent possible by enriching your environment with contemporary concepts and tools.

Innovative environments are better at helping their inhabitants explore the adjacent possible, because they expose a wide and diverse sample of spare parts– mechanical or conceptual– and they encourage novel ways of recombining those parts.

Johnson reminds us that innovation is always incremental; we can only do new things tomorrow because we did new things yesterday; yesterday’s improvements make tomorrow’s possible.   But if we are not engaged with, and surrounded by, recent improvements, we cannot push forward to the future.

Environments that block or limit those new combinations– by punishing experimentation, or by obscuring certain branches of possibility, will, on average, generate and circulate fewer innovations than environments that encourage exploration.

Maybe the above is self-evident, but it nevertheless is so important as to be not ignored.   Our learning environments must open themselves to the world and boldly embrace the new and the cutting edge, and must incorporate cutting edge tools and processes.

“Liquid Networks” are much more innovative than closed, atomized, or individuated environments. Johnson’s most compelling message may be to discard the notion that innovation happens in isolation as the result of solitary genius: it is anything but.

I have said this my self in the past, and the issues of failure and experimentation get a great deal of interest in Home education families and groups. Where they are seen as a positive experiences.
The issue for schools is that they are institutions which must provide results to prove that they are performing. This is not exactly conducive to experimentation.
When reading Steve Johnsons book I would suggest Principals have a look at the ways in which HE children interact in liquid networks. They may find things there which help them within the class room.

Yesterday was the first full day of the 50th anniversary of the New Zealand Computer Society Innovation conference.
The day was opened by Steven Joyce, Minister for ICT. He talked about the history of ICT in NZ and the future plans of the government to roll out the high speed network at a cost of $1.5 billion.
The government may be able to save some of that money if the Ministry for ICT and the Minister responsible for TV get together and sell some of the bandwidth which digital TV will make available in three years. Actually why wait three years to change to digital?

Next up was Sam Morgan. Sam was informative and entertaining, admitting to some naughty innovation in his youth and then talking about TradeMe. But what he really wanted to talk about was the new Pacific fibre cable project he is part of and why he is. As he said, it does not matter how fast our national network is if we are still constrained by the telcos when it comes to overseas bandwidth and data coming into this country. This country needs unlimited broadband to play on the world field and engage its business and people in the future. I managed to catch up with Sam and ask him about Vendhq. I was interested if it fit in with comments he had made regarding the way payments are made in Africa, where financial transactions are being done by mobile phone and the web is mobile.

Just before lunch, Craig Neville-Manning of Google spoke to us about the work engineers at Google have done to help relief agencies in places such as Haiti. And how they have worked fast and put tools up then worked with the user base and changed to make them better. True agile development.
He went on to talk about the increasing opportunities for people to create things of value without the long tails of planning and resources. In a nutshell: if you have an idea, make it. If it does not work move to the next one. Do not spend months working out if it will work, just build it and see.

After Lunch we heard from Rod Drury on how Xero has changed the face of accounting for small business. Xero has created the situation where the small business owner is requiring the accountant to use it, not using the package preferred by the accountant.
Xero was built for the end user not for the systems and organisations they use. So it becomes an interface to the bank, and the accountant.
Rod also talked about how to go after the money once you know your idea does work and secure the funds to really push it out.

Next came Ian McCrae of Orion health. Ian built on something which came across from all the speakers today. The technology is great, but it will only get you so far. It’s the people you work with and the ways you work which will make the difference. Given space to think and encouraged to be engaged, your people will innovate and create solutions.

Throughout the day were other smaller sessions and the “working” day ended with a panel made up of Rod Drury, Ian McCrae, Craig Neville manning and opposition spokesperson on ICT Clare Curran. It was chaired by Designertech CEO Ray Delany.
One of the biggest issues which came out of this was the shortage of developers in New Zealand.
Rod Drury summed it up as “There are no developers knocking on Xero’s door.”  
“I need ten.”
Ian MaCrae agreed with this saying he needed QA testers. This led to discussions about education and developing pathways into ICT.
How do we make it attractive, sexy even?
It was also suggested that all the dot net developers were too busy making sharepoint sites!
When asked how you get a job at Google, Craig replied that you could try working on open source projects. That tends to make you visible to other Google engineers.
Possibly because it is not often a day job!

Through the day, the Twitter stream was buzzing with non attendees grateful for the updates. You can follow along by searching for #nzcs50.
This social component was missing from the planning of the event, which in some ways reflects the NZCS. On its 50 birthday I would suggest it needs to ask questions around how it intends to innovate and go forward for the next 50 years.

My post for day one from the NZCS50 conference for sunlive.co.nz

You know your process has gone wrong when it has this many activities in this many departments. I am betting half of these are actually tasks and sit within the actual activities. Exposing them does not help understanding.
Process diagrams like good processes should be simple. I think Seth Godin could have used this as a fail example.

A must watch for all UX and BA people out there. Its humorous and gets the message across. It may also one day just be what you need to convince someone that actually you do know what you are talking about and that yes supplying the paying user with a good experience is better for profits than making their life easier.

The Ten Commandments of an Entrepreneur

If you expect to succeed in the thrill-a-minute, roller coaster ride of a startup, let me assure you it takes more than a good idea, a rich uncle, and luck. In fact, the idea is often the least important part of the equation. Investors tell me that they look at the people first, the business plan second, and only then at the idea.

If you want some tips to beat the insurmountable odds, take a look at the following concepts, adapted from Richard C. Levy’s book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cashing in On Your Inventions.” He was talking about inventions, but I think his concepts apply perfectly to any entrepreneur starting a business:

1. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t take your idea too seriously, either. The world will probably survive without your idea. You may need it to survive, but no one else does. But there is no excuse not to love and laugh at what you are doing. I’m convinced that people who love their work are more innovative, as well as happier.

2. The race is not always for the swift, but for those who keep running. It’s a mistake to think anything is made overnight other than baked goods and newspapers. You win some, you lose some, and some are rained out, but always suit up for the game and stick with it. It’s not speed that separates winners from losers; it’s perseverance.

3. You can’t do it all by yourself. Entrepreneurial success is almost always the result of unselfish, highly talented, and creative partners and associates willing to face with you the frustrations, rejections, and seemingly open-ended time frames inherent to any business startup.

4. Keep your ego under control. Creative and inventive people, according to profile, hate to be rejected or criticized for any reason. An out-of-control ego kills more opportunities than anything else. While entrepreneurs need a healthy ego for body armor, it can quickly get out of hand and become arrogance if not tempered.

5. You will always miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you don’t put forth the effort, you won’t fail, but you won’t succeed, either. Inaction will keep opportunities from coming your way.

6. Don’t start a company just for the financial rewards. We all want to make money. That’s only natural. But you should be motivated by the opportunity to “make meaning” as well. People who do things just for the money usually come up shortchanged.

7. If you bite the bullet, be prepared to taste gunpowder. Not every idea or decision works. For every action, there is always a criticism. Odds are, you’ll encounter far more criticism than acceptance. Learn from your mistakes, and don’t blame someone else.

8. Learn to take rejection. Don’t be turned off by the word “No,” because you’ll hear it often. Rejection can be positive if it’s turned into constructive growth. My experience is that ideas get better the more times they are presented. “No” means “not yet.”

9. Believe in yourself. One of the first steps toward success is learning to detect and follow that gleam of light Emerson says flashes across the mind from within. It’s critical that you learn to abide by your own spontaneous impression. Allow nothing to affect the integrity of your mind.

10. Sell yourself before you sell your ideas. Be concerned about how you are perceived. You may be capable of dreaming up ideas, but if you cannot command the respect and attention of associates and investors, your proposal will never get off the mark, and you may not be invited back for an encore

As with all the other “ten commandment” articles I have seen, you should take these “lessons for success” with “a grain of salt.” Yet I’m betting that every entrepreneur out there can relate to these, and most of the long aspiring and unhappy entrepreneurs have broken one or more of the commandments. Maybe it’s time to confess your sins and start again.

Marty Zwilling

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I was cleaning our windows the other day and decided to do the garage door as well. It is one of those chain driven up and over doors, with the radio control. It is a white door and there is now a line of little pits and discoloration which has been caused by dirt and oil from the chain.

Which tells me this is a design issue and that all white doors must surely have this issue. But maybe not. Maybe the installer used the wrong chain lubricant. Or left something off.

The installer was a sub contractor and has moved away. So cant check with him. I could check with the manufacturers but the label is pretty worn away. It was while looking at this that it occurred to me.

While this door was being made it would have undergone some form of QA check. Make sure the paint was right, no dents etc. Hopefully the next check would be that the installer received some training. But then what. Act on a complaint? hope to luck?
Basically the QA system falls over when the door leaves the factory. Bear in mind this is a $2 or $3000 door.
This manufacturer has left its reputation, it’s brand, in the hands of a third party. And done nothing to follow up. That I am aware of.

I received no card to send off for my Guarantee as with electrical goods. Nor any letter or call to ask if I was happy with my door. Maybe they assume you only buy one garage door in your lifetime?

What could they do to take control and protect their brand? For a start they could ensure that installers are registered with them. They could then get the installers to send back details of the addresses where they instal the doors, with some details of the end user (or the end user could send it in).

They could then follow up after a month to check that everything was okay, do the owners need a spare key fob, would they like the door serviced next year?

This is not hard yards, but it is care of the end customer. The people who actually pay the bill and who recommend or rubbish your product.

Basically should I ever buy a second garage door (this is my second) I will not automatically source it from the same company. Which may through a lack of simple customer care, be a lost repeat order.

The moral of this tale? Follow up care of customers is true customer care. It shows that actually you do care.